Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Nutanix virtualization environments

Follow this guidance when using Nutanix Acropolis to provide virtual machines in your Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops deployment. The setup process includes the following tasks:

  • Install and register the Nutanix plug-in in your Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops environment.
  • Create a connection to the Nutanix Acropolis hypervisor.
  • Create a machine catalog that uses a snapshot of a master image you created on the Nutanix hypervisor.

For more information, see the Nutanix Acropolis MCS plug-in Installation Guide, available at the Nutanix Support Portal.

Install and register the Nutanix plug-in

Complete the following procedure to install and register the Nutanix plug-in on all your Delivery Controllers. Use Citrix Studio to create a connection to Nutanix. Then, create a machine catalog that uses a snapshot of a master image you created in the Nutanix environment.

Tip:

We recommend that you stop and then restart the Citrix Host Service, the Citrix Broker Service, and the Machine Creation Service when you install or update the Nutanix plug-in.

For information about installing the Nutanix plug-in, see the Nutanix Documentation site.

Create a connection to Nutanix

The following information is a supplement to the guidance in Connections and resources. To create a Nutanix connection, follow the general guidance in that article, minding the details specific to Nutanix.

In the Add Connection and Resources wizard, select the Nutanix connection type on the Connection page, and then specify the address and credentials, plus a name for the connection. On the Network page, select a network for the hosting unit.

The following connection types are available for selection: Nutanix AHV, Nutanix AHV Xi, and Nutanix AHV PC.

  • For Nutanix AHV, specify the Prism Element (PE) cluster address and credentials.

  • For Nutanix AHV PC, specify the Prism Central (PC) address and credentials.

  • For Nutanix Xi, specify the Xi tenant address and username. Import your private and public Nutanix Xi credential files (.pem).

Tip:

If you deploy machines using Nutanix AHV (Prism Element) as the resource, select the container where the VM’s disk resides.

Create a machine catalog using a Nutanix snapshot

The following information is a supplement to the guidance in the Create machine catalogs. To create a catalog, follow the general guidance in that article, minding the details specific to Nutanix.

The snapshot you select is the template used to create the VMs in the catalog. Before creating the catalog, create images and snapshots in Nutanix. For more information, see the Nutanix documentation.

In the catalog creation wizard:

  • The Operating System and Machine Management pages do not contain Nutanix-specific information.

  • The Container or Cluster and Container page is unique to Nutanix.

    If you deploy machines by using Nutanix AHV XI as the resources, you see the Container page. Select a container where the VMs’ identity disks will be placed.

    If you deploy machines by using Nutanix AHV Prism Central (PC) as the resources, you see the Cluster and Container page. Select which cluster to use for the deployment of VMs and then a container.

  • On the Master Image page, select the image snapshot. Acropolis snapshot names must be prefixed with “XD_” to be used in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. Use the Acropolis console to rename your snapshots if needed. If you rename snapshots, restart the catalog creation wizard to see a refreshed list.

  • On the Virtual Machines page, indicate the number of virtual CPUs and the number of cores per vCPU.

  • On the Network Cards page, select the NIC type to filter associated networks. There are two NIC types: VLAN and OVERLAY. Select one or more NICs that the master image contains and then select an associated virtual network for each NIC.

  • The Machine Identities, Domain Credentials, Scopes, and Summary pages do not contain Nutanix-specific information.

Nutanix virtualization environments